The Poisonous Moon
by Conigliomannaro
Summary: When Reno next goes to see how Axel is doing, Roxas' clothes are on a chair, Axel's pajamas are at the bottom of the bed, and Roxas' blond head is poking out of the covers. Roxas has a defiant expression on his face, and it could even fool Reno if the kid's face wasn't as red as Axel's hair.


**^Credits and link to artist's gallery**

* * *

Axel has a few very distinctive features: he's handsome - he knows he is - and he likes to banter and bicker with people; he likes to play, and that's his main quality just as much as it's his main flaw. It's probably also the reason why he's got so many enemies, scattered across the cosmos and the seas of the galaxies of the Imperial Confederation. It's not just the fact that he's a pirate – Roxas himself is, and has a bad temper, yet doesn't have half the sworn enemies as Axel – or a bandit. It's just that, really, if Axel sees a crack in which he can stick a few very snarky words, he's got raw material to go on for a week. Considered that his interactions are mainly catered toward fellow pirates and the whores in the sleazy brothels he visits from time to time, his crude, rude, sharp humour is a bad tool to bring around.

Axel flew on quite a few ships, before he joined Reno's. He got kicked out by one, joined a mutiny on another, then got in and out of a few others, leaving always for the same reason: those ships flew always across the same skies, and Axel didn't like looting unless it was each time on a different planet. Then, one night, in a bar on Earth, he found Reno. They were already pretty much done, way too much rum and way too many alien drugs to cloud judgement, and got dangerously close to fucking in a bathroom stall. Then Reno's second in command narrowed his eyes thoughtfully behind his shades and asked Axel his mother's name, and well; in ten minutes Axel and Reno were hugging and sobbing dramatically, calling Brother, brother, my long lost brother, while Rude pinched the bridge of his nose and ducked his face down to hide his chuckle.

By the end of the night, Axel had decided to join Reno's crew. Reno didn't even have to ask: it seemed a pretty natural thing, and nobody found it strange, when Axel tagged along and followed them on board.  
And man, wasn't Reno's ship the coolest fucking piece of technology Axel had ever seen.

When Axel joined his brother's crew, he was seventeen. He was a lot younger than the average on board, and despite the general consensus that he was a funny son of a bitch, he didn't really find himself getting along much with any of them. Things got a little worse after he tried to make a move on Tifa, completely unaware that the older Strife was very possessive of her. He managed to earn an elbow to the face by her – that, to be fair, was probably an accident – and a cut across the chest from Cloud - which was most definitely not. From then on, Axel kept clear of her, because for as gorgeous as he was, he was affectionate to his old habit of breathing, and wanted to keep it up for a little while longer.

Getting along with the cabin boy, at that point, had been far too easy. Roxas had had to tend to Axel's cut, listened to his blabbering intently, like hypnotized: Roxas was fourteen, pretty much the youngest head on the ship, and slaved around all day without anyone ever bothering to talk to him, his brother included. It wasn't strange for him to cling to Axel's friendliness, especially since Axel was in the same exact situation within the crew. It just happened naturally, and it didn't need much working on.

Axel isn't sure why, through the years, he and Roxas ended up sticking to each other without ever faltering, without ever drifting apart. They clash about five times a week, screaming in each other's face on a daily basis; all these things just never stick, and two hours after punching each other's eyes black and blue, they are already looting Luxord's rum, or Xigbar's smokes. Roxas is vicious when he's angry, angelic face scrunched foul in white, blinding hatred and fury, as he vomits insult after insult upon Axel. Roxas can say the worst, most cruel things when he's angry, and Axel always reacts by taking things to the physical level, to the point that they have left scars on each other on more than one occasion.

And yet.

And yet they never part; and yet they fight back to back, when their ship attacks another; and yet they have saved each other's ass so many times that the rest of the crew has lost count.

They haven't: Roxas, for some reason, keeps the count almost obsessively. Whenever he's leading, he beams in triumph, remarks it, and unleashes on Axel a storm of teasing and mockery. When Axel is on the lead, instead, he sulks and hisses like an angry cat.

Really, how they haven't killed each other in the five years they've been friends, nobody knows.

It happens on a day of May: they have found some old files concerning a few mines on a deserted, forgotten planet just on the edge of a dying galaxy, and decided to head for its skies. The planet's sun is dead and slowly swallowing the galaxy, cold and inexorable, and Axel doesn't really like the idea of flying in the mouth of one of those. He's grumpy all the way there, keeps repeating that they can live without those crystals, that there's enough spices being flown out of Nomorea's skies to overshadow the mines' loot.  
It doesn't work.

When they step on the forgotten planet, the air is so cold that if they weren't wearing thermic bodysuits, they would freeze from the inside out with just one breath. Roxas looks at Axel, sees him mutter something under the body suit. Axel hates cold. Axel hates black holes. Axel hates that galaxy.

When they all come back, at the end of the looting, Axel isn't there. They find him half frozen, lying on his belly under a scintillating set of crystals. Rude brings him into the ship hastily, careful about how he's handling him; when Roxas realizes why, his stomach churns: Rude fears that Axel may be ice already, and that bending his limbs or his body may snap him into pieces.  
And if this is true, Axel is dead.

When Cloud brings in the crystal they'd found in front of Axel's body, Roxas nearly tears his brother apart. He ends up pacing in front of Axel's cabin back and forth, roaring like a wounded tiger at Reno's address, and nobody in that wing of the ship gets any rest until he crumbles asleep where he stands. They leave the black hole, the frozen planet and the dying galaxy behind, but the ice remains in Axel's bones for the days to come. When Vexen finally emerges from Axel's cabin, he's shaking his head. "Bringing an Ignifer on a frozen planet," he tut-tuts, "I can't believe how stupid Reno can be, at times."

It comes as a surprise at first, because Reno seems to be quite fine, but then he mentions that their mother was a prostitute in a Mars' brothel, so technically Axel could be of Ignifer's heritage. Everybody nod their heads, and Roxas feels frustrated, desperate and angry and small, because he seems to be the only one confused. A second later he's bashed a hand into the crystal on the table, screaming "Would anyone mind telling me what the fuck we are talking about?"

When Vexen tells him, his voice sounds almost smug; Roxas will find later that Igniferi and the Frozen people, to which Vexen belongs, have been at war for millenniums, until they blew each other's planets up in an attempt to win the last battle. Vexen nurses Axel back to health, that's true, but Reno still sends Aerith along with the doctor in all his visits, because he doesn't trust Vexen's good will any more. Axel will end killing Vexen, years later, but that's a part of the story that isn't relevant to the facts being told right now.

Roxas does some research, finds out odd, complicated, incomprehensible data about the race of the Igniferi; they were originated on a burning planet, their DNA tailored over extreme conditions of heat. Some Ignifer pure breed, it seems, could survive being burned alive, and, if fished out of it in time, even a dip into molten lava. The Ignifer breed was made of fire manipulators, of creatures that, of humans, carried just the shape; the remaining part of them was the most complete and utter abomination, a complete negation of any kind of medicine or logic that applied to other breeds. Just the Frozen People, to some level, worked like Igniferi; the closest thing to the race of the Wielders of fire was, ironically, its specular opposite: where fire was, the Frozen People substituted ice.

And in small words, for Axel, stepping out of the ship in a termic body suit hasn't been very different from taking a stroll in a cold Siberian night in nothing but a sweater, a pair of jeans and sneakers.

It takes a while for it to sink in, but in the end it does.  
Axel could die.

When Reno next goes to see how Axel is doing, Roxas' clothes are on a chair, Axel's pajamas are at the bottom of the bed, and Roxas' blond head is poking out of the covers. Roxas has a defiant expression on his face; it could even fool Reno, if the kid's face wasn't as red as Axel's hair. Either way,Reno doesn't comment: it's actually a good idea. Ten minutes later, Xion's clothes have joined Roxas' and she's lying on the other side of Axel, shivering a little because god, he's ice cold.

Axel wakes up a couple of weeks later, unconsciously squeezing the body in his arms, and Xion lets out a squeak of triumph that in turn wakes Roxas up. There's not much to feel awkward about, stepping out of the bed naked, because Axel's eyes are still shiny with fever and he doesn't look coherent enough to inquire about why he woke up sandwiched between two half naked people.  
Roxas, for some reason, is disappointed by it, but he doesn't let it show.

Once he's allowed out of the bed, one week after, Axel notices that something in Roxas has changed. He snarls less, and when he does, his snark has always a fond undertone; when they protect each other in battle, Roxas has an oddly feral, oddly cruel look to his face; when they drink Luxord's rum staring at the nebulas and constellations just out of the wide window in the east deck, Roxas' form is always very close, very distinguishable against his side.

And one day, it finally happens.

Roxas is nineteen, Axel is twenty two; all they've had, through the years, have been a few whores here and there, during their off-ship days. They know little in the way of feelings - nobody ever taught them - and know even less when it comes to the practical side of the deal itself. One night, on their way back to Mars, they're drinking rum and staring out of the windows in the west wing of the ship; Axel has a thing for stargazing, and Roxas doesn't really care where they are, as long as Axel hands him the bottle and keeps breathing. They're cruising right out of the Crab Nebula's skies, and Axel is a little drunk and a little happy. He goes on and on about the nebula, about how gorgeous it is, and his breath smells like rum and weed, his eyes seem to glow in the dark. Roxas climbs on his lap with a choked snort, grabs his collar, and when Axel's mouth slacks open in confusion, Roxas pushes his lips against it, initiates one of the least skilful and most awkward kisses that his race remembers.

It doesn't matter much. Axel kisses back just as clumsily, just as awkwardly, because good Talìn, he's really fucking drunk. They keep making out in the dark until things get complicated, until pants are undone, hands are moving frenetically and Axel and Roxas are panting against each other's teeth; when Axel comes, his eyes go glassy for a long, never ending moment. Roxas follows right after, comes against Axel's belly, right under the hem of his shirt; when he pulls away panting Axel's still dazed, a blissful, dumb expression on his face.

When they emerge from Axel's cabin together, the morning after, nobody comments or seems surprised; at some point, Roxas thinks he's seen Luxord handing Zexion a few bills, but it's just too humiliating to ask questions.

Reno isn't one to make a scene – after all, he's bedding Rude – and Cloud isn't exactly happy about their fling, but there's not much anyone can do, considered the amount of time those two spend together. They loot ships together, raid the coasts of the planets they decide to attack staying attached hip to hip, have developed a complementary attack style; while Axel takes care of the long distance devices – he can't believe those idiots still use fire based weapons – Roxas fights on the short radius, and they're practically a flawless team. They work so well together that Reno doesn't even tell them where to go or what to attack, in battle: together, they can take down pretty much the entire Imperial fleet.  
Or, well. Some of it, at least.

Which is why, considering their current situation, Reno is so confused and surprised; a ship full of red Spice of Kathgarder, an attack meant to earn them some easy, quick-to-sell loot, and booty that costed them just five laser shots, and one service ship is missing. Axel's service ship. He's right on the verge of getting worried about it, when Rude gives a non-committal grunt and looks up from the scan.

"They crashed on the planet's main satellite, the Poisoned Moon." he explains, "But the signal seems to be fading, so it may be hard to locate them on the surface."

Reno laughs, when he hears Cloud mutter something about younger brothers being high maintenance, and shrugs.

"Let's go get those idiots, come on. Axel's sensitive to cold, and it's getting dark out there."

* * *

Axel is very sensitive to cold, indeed, but Kathgarder's little moon is warm enough for him; it's a very tiny, very deserted satellite made almost completely of sea and sand, resembling – to some extent – the tropical countries of Earth. The vegetation is different, obviously, and the very vivid play of turquoise and azure of the water is a deceiving, deadly game; yet, Roxas and Axel have been stranded in worse places. They managed to crash their ship near the shore, the impact lessened by the soft and warm touch of sand; the ship is wrecked, the commands and the GPS devices are all out of order, but Roxas and Axel are alive, the wreck didn't blow up, and they managed to crawl out of what was left of it just fine.

Just a few feet away – inside the poisoned forest – or on the other side – in the toxic waters that lick the shoreline – and things wouldn't have looked half as good. Axel is fascinated by the whole deal, leans down to sniff the waves crashing against the sand, pokes alien plants, climbs trees and searches for traces of animal life, all in the first half hour since they landed. In the sky, the assault to the merchant ship is still flaring and blazing, and Roxas has a feeling that they will be staying on the Poisonous Moon for a little more than he's comfortable with; when he notices Axel unconsciously pulling his arms around his ribcage, to protect himself from the slight chill of the air, he gathers around for a few sticks; lighting them on fire isn't going to be hard, but he needs more; two harsh words, and he's kicking Axel into the forest to get more firewood. Axel tries to protest, at first, but as he hears the word 'fire' he shuts his mouth and runs.

It's like promising candy to a child.

When the two little twin suns of Kathgarder set under the horizon, Roxas grabs one of the loops of Axel's belt rolling a little his eyes. "I believe this is quite enough." he huffs. "Set the pyre on fire, come on. It's getting chilly."

Axel obeys, and as the fire burns high and tall, flames blazing ahead of them, Roxas and Axel watch it in fascination.

"It's – purple", Roxas comments dumbly after a while.

"This is a poisonous planet," Axel answers, yet doesn't sound any less dumbstruck than Roxas, "To survive to these conditions, these plants probably had to mutate. Who knows what kind of odd shit runs into their veins."

"Trees don't have veins." Roxas answers, then bites his lips because he doesn't really know much about stuff – he hasn't gone to school, after all, and can write mainly because a little reading and a little math are required to fly a ship; he has no idea whatsoever if trees have veins or not. He just thinks that veins sound pretty... human, maybe. Animal, probably. Definitely not vegetables' stuff.

"Do you think there's life, on this planet?" Axel asks, glancing around while leaning his chin on his knees and humming. "'Poisonous Moon' seems a pretty definitive name."

"It's not poisonous," Roxas answers. "I think I read somewhere that everything on the planet is toxic for most of the races of the Empire, but there's just a couple of things that are poisonous for real. There are some animals that were able to adapt to life here, though I think it's mostly reptiles and fishes."

Axel hums thoughtfully. "How toxic is the sea?"

"Not eager to try, but I would go with 'Oh my god I'm going to shit my heart out I just know it'," Roxas answers, eyeing Axel distrustfully. "Tell me you're not going to try and take a bath."

"For as much as I'd love to be reckless enough to bathe in a toxic sea, I just wanna dip my feet in; take a barefoot walk on the waterline, you know. Something. I'm kinda bored. Just, it'd be upsetting to die for it."

"Go for it," Roxas answers, yawning. "There's not much deadly around here, and I'm pretty sure that whatever is wrong with the sea water isn't bad enough to get through your skin and fuck you up that way." he helps Axel roll his pants up his calves, then shakes his head fondly as his boyfriend takes a lazy stroll toward the horizon, ankles and calves barely licked by the low water.

Turns out, among the animals that have adapted to living on the planet, there are some severe, revengeful, dedicated crabs. They're kinda big, but they're the same colour as the water, so Axel cannot see them, at first; however, he feels them soon, feels a series of vicious, angry pinches on his feet and legs just a few minutes into his stroll in the waters. At first he thinks that it's something in the water – maybe it's a little acid, maybe it's a little too cold – but there's an adult crab pinching his big toe, a moment later, and holy shit that hurts. He squats down, ignoring as his pants get soaked, and finally sees it.  
He runs back to the shore screaming "Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabs!", and he's not very amused when he finally reaches the bonfire and Roxas is in tears from laughing too hard, hands holding his belly and back against the sand. Axel would kind of bitch at him, but there's the pinching again, and he sees that in his frenetic escape, he's brought a few crabs with him in the folds of his pants.

He tosses them in the sea again, and Roxas chuckles and snickers behind his back, trying to hold back the laughter at least a little bit. The battle in the sky has ended, and they feed the fire, try to make it as visible as possible. "Remind me again why we are not allowed cell phones?" Roxas frowns, and Axel shrugs, fanning the flames taller.

"The Empire got Reno three times by tracking down his numbers," he answers, "Reno decided to stick to the ship communicating devices because they're untraceable."

"Fine. And how are we supposed to tell them we're here?"

"They probably can still track down the GPS of the ship. That, and the fire."

"So that's the big plan?"

"Roxas, I swear to god, I will shove a crab down your throat if you don't quit yer bitchin'." Axel snorts, and Roxas bites his inner cheek not to snap back, because he doesn't wanna admit that- "You're afraid, aren't you?" Axel hums, and yeah, of course he would just know it.

"Of what?" Roxas mutters, not making eye contact. He is not admitting that.

Axel smiles condescendingly. "You're afraid that they won't find us." he says. "They will. Calm down."

"Calm down? What if they had to retreat, what will it be of us?" Roxas hisses, "In case you forgot, we haven't wrecked our ship right out of a pizzeria in Posillipo, we're on a mother fucking toxic planet. We're gonna either starve or poison ourselves to death, if we're going to have to stay long."

"Being the captain's only living relative has its perks," Axel shrugs. "I'm pretty positive Reno will fuck up half this galaxy to find us." his tone is carefree – indifferent, even – but he's sitting behind Roxas just a moment later, pulling the kid to rest against his chest. "You're too young and too pretty to die," Axel whispers in his ear, teasing. "How old are you now, by the way?"

"Smooth question, long-course-lover," Roxas huffs, "Twenty two, asshole. Just like you to forget my goddamn age." he smiles, leaning back against Axel with a long sigh. He won't admit it, but it's damn comfy.

"I'll make sure you live at least twice this long." Axel nods gravely, and ducks away just in time to avoid Roxas' elbow. "What, forty four isn't enough for you?"

"I am going to kill you," Roxas mock-roars, and what begins like a fight drifts soon into a sand ridden making out sessions. There's one long, deep kiss, and when Roxas pulls away he's on top of Axel, looks down at him with a smile on his face; for a moment he prays Talìn and all the gods of every race of the Empire to grant him a long life with Axel – a life filled with all the rum, the shipwrecks and the looting they can handle. He asks for a life to live with Axel's green eyes looking at him that way, with his smile always on his sleeve, his touch always that soft, and that ridiculously, incredibly warm skin. "But maybe not tonight." he adds as an afterthought.

Axel smiles back just as warmly, raises his head to kiss Roxas' mouth again, and his voice is a little choked when he speaks.

When he begins to, at least.

"Kiddo, I... I l**ow, fuck you!**" he ends shrieking instead, his choked and emotional voice breaking into a pained shout right as it hit the L word. If he had got to say it whole, that would have been the first time.  
But he didn't, and Roxas thinks he knows why.

He chuckles, sits up and glances back at Axel's bare calves from over his shoulder; as he thought, the culprit is a tiny and vengeful crab, and he leans back to snatch it off of the skin of Axel's legs and toss it back to the sea. Roxas turns around: Axel looks mortified, embarrassed and another dozen of things that Roxas won't name in respect to Axel's dignity. He smiles fondly, leans down, kisses Axel's mouth briefly; then, right when the sound of the engines of Reno's ship pierces the quiet of the shore, he whispers:

"I low fuck you too, Axel."

And really, that's enough for the both of them.


End file.
